On February 10, 2016 an amazingly well-done sex education video from Norway came across my Facebook feed. It was one in a series of eight videos that I highly recommend checking out on YouTube. I’d love to hear what you think of them once you take a look! Will you be showing them to your children? I will certainly be showing them to mine.

I facilitate a Facebook page called Raising Kids Without Sexual Shame and let me tell you, if there was a video made for that page, it was this video! So, I reposted the link. As I suspected, people were thrilled! The feedback was incredible. Those who follow our page wanted more. Many commenters lamented not having been taught this way when they were young. People asked if the videos had been translated into English. They clearly wanted more; the impact was positive. Post after post of gratitude was filling my page.

Then I woke up in the morning to find I was locked out of Facebook: a 24-hour timeout for being naughty and posting this video. Oh goodness—seriously!?! Okay fine; I’ll wait and write this blog instead.

Complaining about Facebook is only part of why I wanted to write this blog. Mostly, I want you to see the videos and if posting them to Facebook isn’t an option, a blog post about them is. They are entertaining, well made, and capture quite a bit of good-quality information. And what thrills me is how they were created in a celebratory tone. THEY CELEBRATE SEX!!! Anyone in America can tell you how difficult it is to get our children a quality sexual education that isn’t riddled with shame and catastrophizing. Thank goodness for social media because otherwise how would I have even known these existed!?

As someone who works to de-colonize people’s minds so they can think positively about sex, I actually have quite a lot of compassion for Facebook. As an international corporation, banning all nudity relinquishes them of having to constantly assess something that’s incredibly difficult to manage; I totally get it. And, that said, I’d like to ask Facebook to reconsider their blanket approach.

Dear Facebook,

Please consider investing some of the astronomical sums of money you’ve gotten by going public in a more attentive and inclusive nudity policy. Ideally we would like one that allows parents to use you as a platform that supports educating our children in all the ways required to become safe, healthy members of society.

As a friend posted on my wall today (in my absence):

How do we raise kids without sexual shame when we as adults are shamed for trying to educate our children in a sex-positive way?

Shame prevents us from talking about sexuality. If we want to educate our children about sex, we must be allowed to talk about it. Facebook, you can either support this or hinder it.

About the author

Community.Relationship.Intimacy.Sex.Birth and so much more. Do you know how to find yourself and the space between you and another? Nekole can help you find your way. One small warning....Nekole has been known to change lives!

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